USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 47
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
In the meantime the Virden brothers had established a trading post.
867
LOCAL HISTORIES
which they enclosed with a wire fence. Largo Pete, in 1886, rode into this fence and cut his leg badly, his death resulting from the injuries. The Indians then became hostile again. A military company then came from near Fruitland. Gregorio had warned Locke, who attended the conference with the troops, and the Indians were bought off with a small amount of provisions. The first physician in the valley traveled about from place to place. The first resident physician was Dr. Brown, who was not a graduate, but was a ranchman, and practiced to some extent, his title being one of courtesy. The first graduate physician was Dr. Stoughton Mangus. The first preacher (holding services in the school house) was Rev. Cut- shingle, a Baptist minister, who came occasionally, and the first regular preacher was Rev. Griffin, of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He came about 1885 and preached at Farmington for a long period, but had a hard time on account of the cowboy troubles. When he first arrived he preached one Sunday at what is now Bloomfield. On the preceding Sat- urday three or four hard characters, cowboys, asked Rev. Griffin to drink with them, and when he refused they finally began shooting the floor near his feet; but he was from Texas, accustomed to the wild scenes of the frontier, and, being a man of courage, he did not show any feeling of cowardice and still refused to drink. His persecuters were Tom Nance, afterward killed at Halbrook; George Lockhart, later killed at Gallup; Sherman Hilton and others, but they finally respected Hilton, who com- manded them to cease their persecutions. The first "show" was held in the school house with a stereopticon about 1885 and displayed pictures of Bible characters. A number of cowboys were standing in the rear of the room. When the picture of Christ was displayed, Tom Nance, Lockhart and others began shooting and shot the canvas to pieces, and the showman jumped from the window. Such were some of the wild scenes which pre- vailed in early days, when lawlessness and disorder reigned.
The first county seat was established temporarily at Aztec, but by law, through the votes of the people, was removed to Junction City, near Farm- ington. The election was contested and the Aztec crowd came down and carried off all the records one night to that town, while some time later the court house at Junction City was burned down.
Farmington is an incorporated city and owes much to the efforts and influence of William Locke, who came in October, 1878, from Florence, Colorado, bringing with him peach, walnut and other seeds. He found no fruit trees. After locating a farm he returned to Florence. In April, 1879, he again came, bringing with him the first fruit trees ever brought to the San Juan valley. These included plum and peach trees, also black- berry and raspberry bushes. He was likewise the first to introduce apples and pears, and brought the first nectarine tree to this locality. For years he devoted his time to fruit-growing, and he had at one time eighty-four acres of fruit, constituting the largest and best orchard in the valley. This he afterward sold to W. N. Kight. He regards apples and peaches as the most profitable crop, but all deciduous fruits thrive here, and seeding olives grow well. Almonds can also be raised profitably. The first peaches were grown by him in 1883 and as the years passed he demonstrated the possibilities for this valley as a fruit producing region and thus inaugu- rated an industry which has been of the utmost value and importance. In 1904 he planted corn which had been found among ruins in 1903. It is
868
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
a red corn on a blood red cob, totally different from any other corn known. This was found near the Arizona boundary line. Mr. Locke obtained nine grains from Colonel D. K. B. Sellers. It had been found under about thirty-three feet of gravel in making an excavation. Mr. Locke planted his nine grains and raised a crop and in 1906 raised a considerable crop. The ears are six or seven inches long and it is dent corn, unlike anything ever known.
Mr. Locke was born in Michigan, October 20, 1839, and was reared in Indiana and Illinois. He went to Canyon City, Colorado, in 1860, one year before the organization of the territory, and there he engaged in ranching and the live stock business. He was elected to the territorial leg- islature of Colorado in 1867 and served as probate judge of Fremont county for four years. He was one of the organizers of the local government in 1860 before the organization of the Territory, and by popular election was chosen recorder and also clerk of the "land claim court," which was formed and conducted without the authority of law. He has also served as a member of the legislature of New Mexico for one term and has al- ways been a Democrat, while in his fraternal relations he is an Odd Fel- low.
A. F. Stump is a farmer and fruit grower living a mile and a quarter west of Farmington. He first came to this locality in 1878 and made permanent settlement in 1879, homesteading one hundred and sixty acres of land. He was born in Ohio in 1843 and when a young man of twenty- five years became a resident of Kansas in 1868. Soon afterward, however, he went to Missouri, where he remained until 1877, when he removed to Colorado, where he resided until he came to New Mexico. He had served as a soldier of the Union army in the Civil war, enlisting in 1861 in the Twenty-fifth Ohio Infantry, with which he was connected until 1866, when he was honorably discharged after the close of the war. He served in Virginia, and when active hostilities had ceased was assigned to duty in South Carolina. He joined the army as a private and was promoted to the rank of first sergeant. He became a charter member of the local Grand Army post. He did further military duty by serving as second lieutenant of a company in the war in San Juan county in 1881.
Following his arrival in New Mexico Mr. Stump homesteaded one hun- dred and sixty acres of land and now has a farm of one hundred and forty acres. It was all raw land when it came into his possession and there was no water and no ditch. He assisted in building the first ditch, which supplied many settlers. His attention was first given to stock raising and farming, but in later years he has made a specialty of horticultural pur- suits. He raised his first peach trees from the seed. The first practical fruit-raising was done in 1882 and he soon demonstrated the possibilities of the district for fruit culture. His first location was the present place of A. E. Dustin and seven years ago he removed to his present farm, then practically unimproved. He now has forty acres principally devoted to horticultural pursuits. In 1882 he established the first brickyard of this part of the Territory and made the first brick in San Juan county. For several years he has engaged in the manufacture of brick in the summer months. He has some of the best land in the entire southwest and he is engaged in the raising of apples for the market, making a specialty of the Jonathan, Winesap, Grimes' Golden, Roman Beauty and White Winter
869
LOCAL HISTORIES
Parmain, which he regards as the best varieties for shipment. In his po- litical views Mr. Stump is a Republican.
George E. Allen, living in Farmington, has been a resident of the southwest since 1880. He was born in Wyoming, Ohio, near Cincinnati, in 1860, and was about twenty-two years of age when he located perma- nently in New Mexico. Here he has devoted his time and energies to hor- ticultural pursuits. He regards this as a fruit country, and peaches as the best paying crop. He has seven acres planted to twenty standard varieties of peaches and has experimented with many varieties. Peaches he believes to be a more profitable crop than alfalfa, and he thinks that money can best be made by cutting up the land into small tracts, which should then be thoroughly worked. The soil is also adapted for the pro- duction of grapes, pears, cherries, plums and berries, and in fact for all deciduous fruits, and through experiment Mr. Allen has learned that garden farming also pays well. He was one of the first to try garden farming, and has proved its success. He now has seventy-five acres of land under cultivation, of which seven acres is in fruit. The land is formed of the deposits of silt from the river and never can be exhausted. It is particularly rich in those properties which are demanded by fruit trees and all small fruits do as well here as anywhere in the southwest. He has shipped in small quantities as far as New York and San Fran- cisco, and his name on a box of fruit is guarantee of its quality and per- fection. Many thousands of acres in the Territory are still available for irrigation and no land has been cultivated to the limit. Peaches may, if properly handled, average a profit of five hundred dollars per acre annually and apples four hundred dollars per acre. Mr. Allen carries on his fruit raising along the most scientific lines and is regarded as one of the fore- most representatives of horticultural interests in his section of the Terri- tory.
David J. Craig, a farmer and fruit grower of Farmington, came to the Territory from Colorado in 1881. He was born in North Carolina in 1847, and at the time of the Civil war became a member of the Third Ala- bama Infantry of Confederate troops. He served in the battles of Chan- cellorsville. Gettysburg, and other important and hotly contested engage- ments. He joined the army in 1862, and after the battle of Gettysburg became ill. and was honorably discharged August 18. 1863. In the mean- time he was cominended for gallantry by his colonel, C. A. Battle, of Rodes' brigade. He was also a member of Captain C. M. Hall's Company A. of the Second North Carolina Battalion Junior Reserves, was at the fall of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, and with Johnston up to his sur- render. In 1867 he went to Canvon City, Colorado, and from that point to the mountains near Lake City in 1872, being there engaged in mining until 1880, when he came to New Mexico. He located on a squatter's claim in 1880, and has since made it his home. He has here two hundred acres of land, with alfalfa as his main crop, valued at $125 per acre. He also has an orchard covering ten acres and he assisted in building and still operates the community ditch. His political support is given to the Democ- racy, but without desire for office. He was made a Mason at Farmington about 1895. and is a charter member of the Odd Fellows society at this place, but joined the latter order at Aztec. He still holds the old home- stead farm of 640 acres in North Carolina, which at one time belonged
870
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
to his great grandfather. His ancestors were from Kentucky and were Scotch and served in the Revolutionary, Mexican and Indian wars. All the relatives were in the Southern army during the rebellion.
Joseph Prewitt, of Farmington, came to San Juan county in the spring of 1882, and in the previous year had visited Durango. He has been prominent and influential in community affairs and succeeded C. V. Stafford as probate clerk, when the latter was appointed clerk of the auditor and treasurer in April, 1901. Mr. Prewitt had been deputy clerk under Mr. Safford. In July. 1902, he was appointed treasurer to fill out an unexpired term, and in the fall of that year was elected county clerk and served a full terin. He entered upon business relations in San Juan county upon his arrival in 1882 as a clerk in the store of W. G. Markley, with whom he formed a partnership, later in the same year, under the firm style of Markley & Prewitt. This relation was continued until the spring of 1886, after which Mr. Prewitt engaged in the real estate and insurance business until the fall of 1898. He then returned to Farming- ton, where he was again engaged in merchandising, and he is now engaged in the real estate business. and also deals in hides and wool. In connec- tion with others he owns a very extensive tract of land in the county, which they intend to put upon the market, and they have a ditch bring- ing water from La Plata. Seven thousand acres of the land is patented and plans are made for the erection of reservoirs to furnish water to from fif- teen to twenty thousand acres. Mr. Prewitt is a native of Lincoln county, Missouri, born in 1859, and has always lived in the west. In politics he is a Democrat. He is closely associated with the business and public in- terests of his county, and his efforts are proving of direct and far-reach- ing benefit in the development of this part of the Territory.
Almon E. Dustin, a fruit grower of Farmington, was born in Iowa in 1861, and came to New Mexico in 1880. In the fall of that year he engaged in the cattle business, in which he continued for several years. He ran cattle until the fall of 1892, when he was elected sheriff, holding the office until March, 1895. when he retired. He was then again en- gaged in the cattle business for two years, and in the fall of 1896 he turned his attention to merchandising in Farmington, carrying on busi- ness for three years in partnership with G. L. Cooper. In 1899 he sold out to the Hyde exploring expedition, and in 1902 he joined others in organizing the Pierce Mercantile Company, with which he was connected for three years, when, in the spring of 1905, he sold out. He owns one hundred and forty acres of ranch land in the Las Animas valley, which he purchased in the summer of 1905. It was principally wild and unim- proved at that time, but he has since made many changes and improve- ments, and is now carrying on horticultural pursuits and general farming. In public affairs he has been somewhat active, and for some years was a member of the town board. He was made coal oil inspector in June, 1906, and he gives his political support to the Republican party.
J. A. Duff, D. D. S .. postmaster and dental practitioner at Farming- ton. was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1870, and continued his literary edu- cation, gained in the public schools, in the University of Toronto, while his dental course was pursued in the Royal College of Dental Surgery of that city. He came to Farmington in 1896, making Durango his head- quarters, from which place he made periodic visits to Farmington, thus
871
LOCAL HISTORIES
controlling his practice for three or four years. In 1903 he was appointed postmaster at this place. and is still hokling the office. He joined Monte- zuma Lodge No. 22. K. P., at Durango, and is now taking an active in- terest in the work of organizing a lodge in Farmington. He is likewise connected with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
C. M. Hubbard, of Farmington, was born in Lewis county, New York, in 1842, and in 1878 came to San Juan county, New Mexico, from Ilion county, New York. He settled five miles east of Farmington upon a ranch which he still owns, and there he resided until about 1904, when he removed to the town of Farmington and purchased his present resi- dence. Till the railroad reached Durango he engaged in freighting from Alamoosa, and for two years conducted a meat market in connection with his son. During the period of the Civil war he was employed in the Remington Sons gun factory in Ilion county, New York, but during the greater part of his residence in the Territory he has been connected with freighting and ranching. He was made a Mason in Mohawk Valley Lodge No. 276, A. F. & A. M., in New York, about forty years ago.
Foster Blacklock, of Farmington, was born in Cumberland, England, in 1851. and has been a resident of the United States since 1865. He spent some time as a coal miner and brickmaker in Geneseo, Illinois, and subsequently removed to Colorado, where he resided until 1879, when he came to Farmington, New Mexico. Since 1880 he has resided upon the ranch which he still owns, and which, carefully conducted by him, has become a valuable and profitable property.
W. N. Kight, proprietor of the Sunnyside Orchards, has resided at Farmington since 1896, at which time he purchased the horticultural in- terests of William Locke, owner of the largest and hest orchards of the county, covering eighty acres. The property altogether comprised three hundred and fifty acres of land, for which he paid ten thousand five hun- dred dollars, and since that time he has figured as one of the most prom- inent fruit growers of the Territory. He was born in Ohio in 1848, and left that state for Iowa in 1866. He removed to Colorado in 1887 and was a resident of Durango and that vicinity until 1896, when he came to New Mexico and purchased the fruit-raising interests which he has since owned and conducted. He has won prizes on his fruit wherever he has made exhibitions. The apples which he largely raises for market are of the Jonathan, Grimes Golden, Winesap, Beauty and White Winter Parmain varieties. He believes that apples and peaches are the fruits that may be produced most profitably in this part of the country, and the apples raised are of particularly fine quality and size, owing to the iron in the soil. In the fall of 1904 he gathered thirty-six apples, the combined weight of which was fifty pounds. Mr. Kighit has himself set out about thirty acres to fruit. During his second year on the ranch-1898-he handled one mil- lion pounds of fruit and sold all he could ship out of the county, and in all of his shipments there was not a single box that contained wormy fruit. In 1905 he gathered six hundred pounds of fruit from one peach tree twenty-five years old, which was set out by William Locke, and he has taken one thousand pounds of fruit from the same tree. His orchards are among the finest in the entire Territory, and he is accorded a fore- most place among the fruit raisers of New Mexico.
Mr. Kight is a Republican in politics and he was made a Mason and
872
HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
also an Odd Fellow at Burlington Junction, Missouri. He is now con- nected with the Durango lodge of Masons and with the Odd Fellows lodge at Farmington.
Frank M. Pierce, a merchant at Farmington, opened the second gen- eral store in that place in December, 1879. Soon afterward he sold the store to E. A. Clayton & Son, who failed, and Mr. Pierce again came into possession of the store. Subsequently he sold out to J. B. Hocker, who, a year later, disposed of the stock to Mr. Pierce, who has conducted the business continuously since. Mr. Pierce was born in Tennessee in 1851. After living about five years in Arkansas he went to Colorado for his health in 1875 and engaged in clerking at Florence. In October, 1879, he arrived at Farmington and has been one of the prime movers in the development of San Juan county. He has owned fruit ranches and herds of sheep, thus carrying on horticultural and stock-raising interests in addition to the conduct of his mercantile establishment. For four years he served as county treasurer and is now a member of the board of county commis- sioners, and his influence has been a potent factor in matters relating to general progress. He has two sons, Harry and James, who are his part- ners in business. In politics Mr. Pierce is a strong Democrat, and, fra- ternally, is connected with the Masons of Farmington.
R. H. McJunkin, a lumber dealer of Farmington, came to the Terri- tory from Colorado in 1892, having been a resident of that state from 1888. He was born in Indiana in 1842 and was a member of the Eighth Illinois Infantry at the time of the Civil war, serving with the Army of the Tennessee, and participating in the march to the sea under General Sherman and in the grand review in Washington, D. C. He was with the army for a year after the close of hostilities, being sent to Texas to gather up government property, and in May, 1866, was honorably dis- charged at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He then returned to Tazewell county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming until 1876, when he went to Kan- sas, where he carried on general agricultural pursuits until his removal to Colorado. After four years' residence in that state he came to New Mexico and took up government land on the San Juan river. He lived there for two years, and later farmed in the valley. Since 1902 he has been engaged in the lumber business in Farmington. He holds member- ship in Lincoln Post No. 13, G. A. R., and in politics is a stalwart Repub- lican.
J. C. Carson, who came to San Juan county in 1877, has been one of the most prominent men of this locality for nearly thirty years. Asso- ciated with others he built an irrigating ditch at Bloomfield, the first suc- cessful undertaking of this kind in the San Juan district. Mr. Carson was born in Ottawa, Canada, in 1853, and in 1872 went to Colorado, spending his time largely in the vicinity of Denver. He aided in the building of the Colorado Central Railroad and discovered Carson camp in Colorado about 1880. The summer months were spent in mining in that state and the winters were passed in New Mexico from 1877. In 1884 he began the general development of land, and now has a good ranch of two hundred and forty acres, of which about sixty acres is planted in hay. In 1906 he put in four acres in peaches, and he has a bearing orchard of five acres. He had previously experimented with peaches and had pulled out several acres of trees, but he feels now that he has an understanding of the busi-
873
LOCAL HISTORIES
ness that will enable him to reach success in this direction, labor and ex- periment having brought to him the knowledge necessary for successful fruit culture in this part of the country. His connection with public in- terests covers four years' service-from 1892 until 1896-in the office of sheriff. In politics he is a Roosevelt Democrat. He served as captain of the militia company which was organized in 1883 to suppress Indian uprisings, and he is a Master Mason, having served for two or three terms as master of the blue lodge.
Robert H. Woods, who carries on general agricultural pursuits at Farmington, has been a resident of New Mexico since 1889, when he purchased his present place. He was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1844, and there resided until twenty-two years of age, when, in 1866, he re- moved to Michigan. He served in the Civil war as a member of the One Hundred and Sixteenth New York Regiment of Infantry, which com- mand was assigned to the department of the gulf under General Banks. After two years' service in that department Mr. Woods was for one year under command of General Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley and wit- nessed General Sheridan's arrival at Cedar Creek, following his famous ride from Winchester, when he rallied his scattered forces and turned the tide of battle to the Union side. Mr. Woods joined the army in 1862 and served until the close of hostilities, becoming a corporal. He remained a resident of Michigan from 1866 until 1878, when he removed to Rooks county, Kansas, where he resided until 1889. He then came to New Mexico and purchased his present place of forty acres, three miles up the Animas valley from Farmington. Of this, seven acres had already been improved. He is engaged in the raising of fruit on an extensive scale. In 1905 one acre of peaches netted $400, each tree yielding five or six boxes of fruit. Apples are also productive, and the orchards are bothered little by worms. He believes that fruit can be more profitably raised than cereals, for it averages a net profit of about one hundred dollars per acre, and he now has about twenty acres planted to fruit.
R. E. Cooper, residing in Farmington, was born in Michigan in 1850 and came from Colorado to the Territory in 1901. He has been con- nected with the sheep industry throughout the greater part of his life, and now, in partnership with his sons, is engaged in the breeding and raising of sheep on an extensive scale, keeping only blooded stock, his specialty being French Rambouillet Merino sheep. He is one of the leading repre- sentatives of this line of business in the San Juan valley and is meeting with success in his undertakings. Mr. Cooper was made a Mason in Mil- brook Lodge No. 281, A. F. & A. M., in Graham county, Kansas.
Abraham Howe, of Farmington, became a resident of Colfax county, New Mexico, in 1873. He was born in Iowa in 1851, became a resident of Kansas in 1865, and remained in the Sunflower state until his removal to New Mexico. He spent nearly fifteen years in Colfax county, riding the range, and afterward went to Santa Fé in charge of the day guards in the penitentiary, at the time T. P. Gable was warden. In 1890 he left Colfax county and spent two years in traveling in Utah, Nevada and other western sections of the country. He afterward settled near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and in 1902 came to Farmington, where he has since engaged in trading in lands.
Wayne Walling, a resident agriculturist of Farmington, came to this
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.